Spinning Vol 2 right now. Sounds incredible. It's criminal that we don't have more live National on vinyl.
Disk 2 has a slight visual warp but doesn't affect how it sounds thankfully.
All the Wine and Day I Die (currently spinning) his voice is sounding a little shot though...

To me, Sleep Well Beast is a colossal snoozer compared to their other records. System and Guilty Party are the only two stand outs, the rest all feels like the same song over and over. I'd give a nod to Turtleneck for being the most aggressive song but it doesn't land for me. Day I Die and Walk It Back are pretty good too.
I like it, but it's their worst album.
I'm shocked at all the IAETF hate in here. The female vocalists add such a beautiful and unique layer to the sound they've built over many albums. The first 7 songs are among the best National songs of all time, and the titular track is in my top 3 (next to All The Wine and Slow Show) - the 2nd half is a bit more experimental and less tight but I really enjoy everything. I hope some of you National fans can come around to it.

My rankings are going to piss people off. They're my favorite band. They're all good albums but every ladder has a bottom rung.
Alligator
Boxer
I Am Easy To Find
High Violet
Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
Trouble Will Find Me
The National
Sleep Well Beast

The BAM show is rumored to be the cherry tree vol 2 release..
I don't get why that's such a great choice though, there's no deep cuts in there besides Secret Meeting and that's arguably a "bigger" deep cut

I've never been a big fan but there's always been 1-2 songs per album that I could dig. I listened to this and each song had me praying they would end by the halfway mark. Breathe Deeply or whatever was the only decent track. The fact that it's getting any critical acclaim is a testament to the lack of quality and integrity in music journalism in 2020.
And as a fan I would be insulted by this album. So many stockholm syndrome'd Tame Impalagists smh.